Principles of Egyptian Art: Part 1

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Del curso dictado por University of Pennsylvania

Wonders of Ancient Egypt

196 calificaciones

University of Pennsylvania

Wonders of Ancient Egypt

196 calificaciones

Colossal pyramids, imposing temples, golden treasures, enigmatic hieroglyphs, powerful pharaohs, strange gods, and mysterious mummies are features of Ancient Egyptian culture that have fascinated people over the millennia. The Bible refers to its gods, rulers, and pyramids. Neighboring cultures in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean wrote about its god-like kings and its seemingly endless supply of gold. The Greeks and Romans describe aspects of Egypt's culture and history. As the 19th century began, the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt highlighted the wonders of this ancient land, and public interest soared. Not long after, Champollion deciphered Egypt's hieroglyphs and paved the way for other scholars to reveal that Egyptian texts dealt with medicine, dentistry, veterinary practices, mathematics, literature, and accounting, and many other topics. Then, early in the 20th century, Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun and its fabulous contents. Exhibitions of this treasure a few decades later resulted in the world's first blockbuster, and its revival in the 21st century has kept interest alive. Join Dr. David Silverman, Professor of Egyptology at Penn, Curator in Charge of the Egyptian Section of the Penn Museum, and curator of the Tutankhamun exhibitions on a guided tour of the mysteries and wonders of this ancient land. He has developed this online course and set it in the galleries of the world famous Penn Museum. He uses many original Egyptian artifacts to illustrate his lectures as he guides students as they make their own discovery of this fascinating culture. This course focused on five key areas in the study of Ancient Egypt: 1) Principles of Egyptian Art, 2) The Basics of the Language of Ancient Egypt: Hieroglyphs, 3) Egyptian Magic, 4) Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and the Religion of the Aten, and 5) The Burial of Tutankhamun and the Search for his Tomb. This course is intended to accompany, and ideally to follow, Introduction to Ancient Egypt (also available on Coursera).

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Conoce a los instructores

David P. Silverman
Eckley Brinton Coxe, Jr. Professor of Egyptology
Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations

[MUSIC]

Today I want to talk about Egyptian art.

In order to begin this discussion,

I thought that we might start with the term art.

When we look at Western art today, we often judge it on an aesthetic and

a technical basis.

Does the artifact appeal to the viewer?

Has the artist completed the work with technical success?

The observer could probably answer both of these questions fairly simply.

But then, there is also the issue of whether the artwork has communicated or

expressed something to the viewer.

Has it evoked an emotional response?

Has the artist successfully conveyed his or her message?

Let's look for an example at a few works of modern art.

One, a sculpture by Robert Indiana, and

another, a cubist painting by Picasso.

These three artists have succeeded on both a technical and an aesthetical level.

But has their more subjective message been conveyed?

Were such questions even valid for art during earlier periods of time?

How were they judged?

For the first and a good portion of the second millennium CE, much of

the art that has survived has tended to be primarily for religious purposes.

See for example the Sistine Chapel, the beautiful fresco by Giotto, and

many artworks that we see from the first 1,000 years and even into later periods.

The subject matter of western art

has been increasingly secular however more recently.

Sometimes the images are immediately recognizable.

And sometimes they are less recognizable.

They seem to have not only recognizable images, but

they also seem to have some symbolic works too.

But the emphasis has been on both technique and

whether the artist has expressed feelings he or she intended to give to the viewer.

Occasionally the artist has become almost as important as the subject matter

that he or she is trying to depict.

Sometimes information about the life of the individual who created the artifact,

can help the viewer appreciate fully the work.

For example, a painting by Van Gogh.

Certainly, the best artists throughout history have obtained

a high level of fame.

And their reputations were based on both these issues, their aesthetic and

technical expertise.

And also, their ability to convey messages.

For example, Michelangelo's statue of David, and Monet's impressionist art.

Whether the work was primarily religious or

secular made no real difference therefore.

The underlying purpose to get the message across as well as the importance

of the aesthetics through the ability of the artist has not changed all that much.

One can see the same situation in a variety of cultures from both the East

and the West.

But in ancient times, especially in Egypt, the situation was different.

We usually do not know the artist.

In fact, much of the work was a cooperative effort.

And because the society is so removed from us we may be unfamiliar enough with

the civilization that we cannot always judge its success in terms of its message.

We may not know the message at all.

We may be able to appreciate the technical and aesthetic appeal of a sculpture,

such as the figure of Tutankhamun in the Penn Museum,

as well as the relief of Kapure.

But what do these images really mean to us?

In some cases, we do not know the person responsible for

creating both the concept and the item itself.

Occasionally, however, we do know them.

For example, the step pyramid,

the first building in history built entirely of stone.

We do know that the architect was Imhotep.

This conveyed messages to all viewers.

It was the burial of the King, the presence of a deified individual and

a divine cosmological place.

And since we know what the purpose of the building was,

we can judge all of its aspects and to see whether or not they're successful.

Still we're not cognizant of the actual limits of the success of this creation

until we have more information about it in terms of its culture.

More than likely however we do not even know the identity of the artist.

Imhotep was a rare example.

But let's take another one from Ancient Egypt, the bust of Nefertiti.

If we view it on an aesthetic level, we can appreciate its beauty,

especially since it conforms to modern Western conventions.

We might say that the artist was technologically superior

to the one who created a figure of her husband, Akhenaten.

But in terms of its message could one be more successful than the other.

Without knowledge of the society we cannot be sure which.

So for the ancient world in general, and

Egypt specifically, we must learn more about the context.

That is what was the artifact's role in society.

Actually this rule would be applicable for all work created in environments with

which the viewer has little or no information or familiarity.

For a work of art to be successful, some common ground has to exist between

the viewer and the artists, especially for Egyptian art.

And we are somewhat fortunate, for

the imagery derives primarily from recognizable figures in nature.

So we are able

to distinguish

and identify

somewhat with

what we

are looking at.

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